Hill, Harry J.

1905-1973 | Chairman of the Lathrop Company, and Real Estate Developer


Harry J. Hill was born in Wainfleet, England, on April 30, 1905. After the death of his father in Johannesburg, South Africa, his widowed mother, Sylvia Hill, returned to England and placed her only son, Harry Hill, in a private school. She then decided to set out for a new life in Alaska in 1915. She met and married Paul Ringstad in Anchorage and sent for young Hill, and they moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. Harry Hill, who was fourteen at the time, was ten years older than the eldest of his three half-brothers, Elmer, Kenneth, and Mark Ringstad.[1]

Hill began working for Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop, an association which lasted for twenty-seven years. In 1924, became the timekeeper at the Suntrana Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska, traveling between the mine and its office in Anchorage.[2]

In 1928, Harry Hill met and married Elsie Edmiston, a young school teacher who was employed at the Healy School in Suntrana. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 24, 1907, to James Edmiston and Mary Kennedy Edmiston. In 1910, her family immigrated to Canada and, in 1915, moved to Douglas, Alaska. She attended school in Treadwell and then Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and then was hired as a teacher in Eska. After her marriage to Hill, she moved to the Suntrana Coal Mine in Healy. Their son, Donald, was born on July 5, 1929, in Fairbanks, Alaska.[3] 

In 1934, Hill moved to Anchorage after Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop gave him additional responsibilities as his “right-hand man” in Anchorage, including managing the Empress Theatre and the 4th Avenue Building. Hill left the Lathrop organization in 1944 to form a partnership with Oscar Anderson to manage the Evan Jones Coal Mine in the Matanuska Valley. The operation was one of the two major coal producers in the valley, and it sold most of its coal to military installations near Anchorage.[4]

After Austin E. "Cap" Lathrop's death in 1950, Hill sold his interest in the Evan Jones Mine and rejoined the Lathrop organization. As one of the executors of Lathrop's will, Hill became involved with operations of the Lathrop Company. The Lathrop holdings in 1950 included five movie theaters, two radio stations, and two television stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The television and radio stations in Fairbanks operated under the call letters of KFAR, and the Anchorage stations operated under the KENI call letters. Shortly after Hill took over chairmanship of the Lathrop Company, a group of employees headed by Alvin Bramstedt purchased the television and radio stations.[5]

In the 1960s the Lathrop Company became involved in the construction of several major building projects in Anchorage. The firm constructed the RCA building in 1960. In 1962 it built the largest privately owned building in the Anchorage, the Hill Building, at the corner of 6th Avenue and G Street. Originally constructed to house the regional offices of the Federal Aviation Administration, it eventually became Anchorage's City Hall. The same year, the company built the Alaska Mutual Savings Bank building at the corner of 5th Avenue and F Street. In 1963, it acquired the Cordova Building at 6th and Cordova. Throughout the 1960s, the firm continued to build theaters in Anchorage and Fairbanks. In 1969, a national firm based in Florida, Wometco Enterprises, Inc., merged the Lathrop Company into their own, and Harry Hill became chairman of the board of Wometco Enterprises.[6]

Hill further served the Anchorage community when he was elected to the Anchorage City Council in the general election held on April 4, 1939.[7] In a hotly contested election, Mayor H.E. Brown defeated Harvey J. Smith, described by the Anchorage Daily Times as the “so-called labor candidate,” by a vote of 850 to 272. Smith was part of a slate of labor union candidates for mayor and three seats on the Anchorage City Council that were defeated when 1,145 persons cast ballots, the largest number to vote in the city’s history. Hill was one of three councilman elected to a two-year term, and received 735 votes.   Prior to the election, he had been appointed to the Anchorage City Council to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Frank Morrison, who had moved to the Lower 48 states.[8] In addition, Hill also served as the honorary British Consul, and as a member of the City of Anchorage’s Power Commission.[9]

In 1930, Hill became a naturalized U.S. citizen after his petition for naturalization was approved by the U.S. District Court at Anchorage.[10] In 1949, his wife, Elsie Edmiston Hill, also was naturalized as a U.S. citizen.[11]

In 1935, Hill purchased property located at 935 Third Avenue and had a home built as his residence. Since no local architect was available, he bought plans for a “Tom Thumb House” for $5 from Better Homes and Gardens. He hired Herman Johnson, an Anchorage contractor, to build the one-and-one half story frame structure, with wood siding, a steep gable roof with two arched dormers, and an interior black chimney. In 1956, his son, Don Hill, added a small, flat-roof addition to the east and used it as a family room.  In the late 1950s, the Hill family sold the house to Walter Hickel. After serving as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1969-1970, Governor Hickel returned to Anchorage and planned to use the residence as his office. As of 1986, it was still owned by the Hickel Investment Company.[12]

Elsie Edmiston Hill was active in organizations and clubs in Anchorage. She was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo 15, Auxiliary 4. Among her hobbies were reading, gardening, and travel. She was noted for her colorful garden at her home above the 4th Avenue Theatre.[13]

Harry J. Hill died on January 18, 1973. Elsie Hill continued to live in Anchorage. She died on February 17, 2005, during a brief recovery from hip surgery. The couple was buried at Angeles Memorial Park Cemetery in Anchorage. They were survived by a son, Donald, of Anchorage; and three grandchildren.[14] The Municipality of Anchorage’s Hill Building was named in honor of Harry J. Hill.[15]


Endnotes

[1] “Mrs. Sylvia Ringstad Chosen Fairbanks Mother of the Year,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 6, 1952,6, https://newspapers.com/image/5680154 (accessed April 9, 2016).

[2] “Pioneer in Alaska Theatres, Harry J. Hill, Dies at 67,” Anchorage Daily Times, January 18, 1973, 1.

[3] Obituary, Elsie Edmiston Hill, Anchorage Daily News, February 23, 2005, B-7; and Donald Kent Hill, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed December 1, 2016).

[4] “Pioneer in Alaska Theatres, Harry J. Hill, Dies at 67,” Anchorage Daily Times, January 18, 1973, 1; “Mrs. Sylvia Ringstad Chosen Fairbanks Mother of the Year,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 6, 1952, 6, https://newspapers.com/image/5680154 (accessed April 9, 2016); and John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 156-157.

[5] “Pioneer in Alaska Theatres, Harry J. Hill, Dies at 67,” Anchorage Daily Times, January 18, 1973, 1; and John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935, 156-157.

[6] “Pioneer in Alaska Theatres, Harry J. Hill, Dies at 67,” Anchorage Daily Times, January 18, 1973, 1; and John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935, 156-157.

[7] Municipal Clerk’s Office, Municipality of Anchorage, History of Mayors and Assembly Members [“Mayors and Councilmen of the City of Anchorage, Alaska, 1925-1985”], 2.

[8] “Full Labor Slate Looms; Mayor Brown to Run Again but Council Aspirants are Scarce,” Anchorage Daily Times, March 11, 1939, 1; and “Landslide Sends Popular Regime Back to Posts,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 5, 1939, 1.

[9] Michael Carberry and Donna Lane, Patterns of the Past: An Inventory of Anchorage’s Historic Resources (Anchorage: Community Planning Department, Municipality of Anchorage, 1986), 23.

[10] On November 22, 1930, Harry J. Hill became a naturalized citizen in Anchorage. See, entry for Harry Hill, List of Inward-Bound Passengers, Sailing from Los Angeles, March 15, 1950, S.S. Lurline, arriving at Honolulu, March 20, 1950, National Archives Microfilm Publication A3422, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1900-1953, Roll 257, Honolulu, Hawaii Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed December 2, 2016).

[11] On June 24, 1949, Elsie Hill became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Washington, DC. See, entry for Elsie Hill, List of Inward-Bound Passengers, Sailing from Los Angeles, March 15, 1950, S.S. Lurline, arriving at Honolulu, March 20, 1950, National Archives Microfilm Publication A3422, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1900-1953, Roll 257, Honolulu, Hawaii Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed December 2, 2016).

[12] Ibid.

[13] Obituary, Elsie Edmiston Hill, Anchorage Daily News, February 23, 2005, B-7.

[14] Harry J. Hill, U.S., Find a Grave, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed April 9, 2016); Elsie Edmiston Hill, U.S., Find a Grave, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed April 9, 2016); and John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935, 156-157.

[15] Michael Carberry and Donna Lane, Patterns of the Past: An Inventory of Anchorage’s Historic Resources, 23.


Sources

This biographical sketch of Harry Hill is based on an essay which originally appeared in John Bagoy’s Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001), 156-157. See also the Harry J. Hill file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 4, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage, AK.  Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012.  Note:  edited, revised, and expanded by Bruce Parham, December 3, 2016.

Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, “Hill, Harry J.,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.


Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.